Climate impact of beef: an analysis considering multiple time scales and production methods without use of global warming potentials
An analysis of the climate impact of various forms of beef production is carried out, with a particular eye to the comparison between systems relying primarily on grasses grown in pasture (‘grass-fed’ or ‘pastured’ beef) and systems involving substantial use of manufactured feed requiring significan...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2015-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/8/085002 |
| _version_ | 1797748763963424768 |
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| author | R T Pierrehumbert G Eshel |
| author_facet | R T Pierrehumbert G Eshel |
| author_sort | R T Pierrehumbert |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | An analysis of the climate impact of various forms of beef production is carried out, with a particular eye to the comparison between systems relying primarily on grasses grown in pasture (‘grass-fed’ or ‘pastured’ beef) and systems involving substantial use of manufactured feed requiring significant external inputs in the form of synthetic fertilizer and mechanized agriculture (‘feedlot’ beef). The climate impact is evaluated without employing metrics such as ${\mathrm{CO}}_{2}{\rm{e}}$ or global warming potentials. The analysis evaluates the impact at all time scales out to 1000 years. It is concluded that certain forms of pastured beef production have substantially lower climate impact than feedlot systems. However, pastured systems that require significant synthetic fertilization, inputs from supplemental feed, or deforestation to create pasture, have substantially greater climate impact at all time scales than the feedlot and dairy-associated systems analyzed. Even the best pastured system analyzed has enough climate impact to justify efforts to limit future growth of beef production, which in any event would be necessary if climate and other ecological concerns were met by a transition to primarily pasture-based systems. Alternate mitigation options are discussed, but barring unforseen technological breakthroughs worldwide consumption at current North American per capita rates appears incompatible with a 2 °C warming target. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:09:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6f1a87cd50704fe788e9f54840db3a71 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:09:31Z |
| publishDate | 2015-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-6f1a87cd50704fe788e9f54840db3a712023-08-09T14:11:55ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262015-01-0110808500210.1088/1748-9326/10/8/085002Climate impact of beef: an analysis considering multiple time scales and production methods without use of global warming potentialsR T Pierrehumbert0G Eshel1Department of Physics, University of Oxford , Oxford, UKBard College, Annandale-on-Hudson , NY, USAAn analysis of the climate impact of various forms of beef production is carried out, with a particular eye to the comparison between systems relying primarily on grasses grown in pasture (‘grass-fed’ or ‘pastured’ beef) and systems involving substantial use of manufactured feed requiring significant external inputs in the form of synthetic fertilizer and mechanized agriculture (‘feedlot’ beef). The climate impact is evaluated without employing metrics such as ${\mathrm{CO}}_{2}{\rm{e}}$ or global warming potentials. The analysis evaluates the impact at all time scales out to 1000 years. It is concluded that certain forms of pastured beef production have substantially lower climate impact than feedlot systems. However, pastured systems that require significant synthetic fertilization, inputs from supplemental feed, or deforestation to create pasture, have substantially greater climate impact at all time scales than the feedlot and dairy-associated systems analyzed. Even the best pastured system analyzed has enough climate impact to justify efforts to limit future growth of beef production, which in any event would be necessary if climate and other ecological concerns were met by a transition to primarily pasture-based systems. Alternate mitigation options are discussed, but barring unforseen technological breakthroughs worldwide consumption at current North American per capita rates appears incompatible with a 2 °C warming target.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/8/085002cumulative carbonmethaneN2Onitrous oxideagricultural impactsbeef production |
| spellingShingle | R T Pierrehumbert G Eshel Climate impact of beef: an analysis considering multiple time scales and production methods without use of global warming potentials Environmental Research Letters cumulative carbon methane N2O nitrous oxide agricultural impacts beef production |
| title | Climate impact of beef: an analysis considering multiple time scales and production methods without use of global warming potentials |
| title_full | Climate impact of beef: an analysis considering multiple time scales and production methods without use of global warming potentials |
| title_fullStr | Climate impact of beef: an analysis considering multiple time scales and production methods without use of global warming potentials |
| title_full_unstemmed | Climate impact of beef: an analysis considering multiple time scales and production methods without use of global warming potentials |
| title_short | Climate impact of beef: an analysis considering multiple time scales and production methods without use of global warming potentials |
| title_sort | climate impact of beef an analysis considering multiple time scales and production methods without use of global warming potentials |
| topic | cumulative carbon methane N2O nitrous oxide agricultural impacts beef production |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/8/085002 |
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